Evidenced By Handprints

When the pandemic caused us to close down and isolate, I began going through photos, drawers, boxes, closets, and the garage.  And, now that we are reconnecting, I am still trying to clear out objects and memories that hold me in the past.

One thing I found was a scrapbook that my mother began when I was a child.  I have definitely grown since those footprints and handprints were pasted in those age-weathered pages!  But, have I changed?

Can you see your handprints on a situation?
(Photo credit: 25 Craft Ideas Using Children's Handprints
- Chirping Moms)

An interesting observation about my experience with The Lockdown:  though physically isolated, I found myself drawn closer to family and friends through Zoom sessions... and shared memories that surfaced as a by-product of holding, remembering, and letting go of Treasures.  It was as if Life Refocused on what was important.

Where have you given life to others?
(Photo credit: "The Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo
- Art in Context)

Rather than returning to normal, though, I wanted to see and understand the prints that were left:

• Am I aware of when you have touched me -- or I you?
• Has my life changed because of you -- or have you changed because of me?
• Do we give life to one another?

In essence, as we try to understand the effects of COVID-19 three years later, what have we learned about ourselves?

How have you lifted up others today?
~~ Click on image to enlarge ~~
Photo credit: We Rise By Lifting Other Rainbow
Hand Hearts - Stupell Industries, Wayfair)

  

One of the Dialogue Skills encourages us to notice and check the ways that our different roles and communication styles affect dialogue with another person.  As we change roles from being a parent, sibling, work colleague, supervisor, or friend, do we pay attention to the impact on the situation?  Are we aware that we are leaving Our-Prints -- some that remain and some that disappear?

What is your impact on others?
~~ Click on image to enlarge ~~
(Photo credit: My Handprints Poem - Etsy)

You may be wondering:  as I cleaned out my childhood belongings, did I keep the footprints and handprints?  Yes!  I want to be reminded of how I have grown and changed.  I can remember -- but not relive -- childhood.

 

In a similar manner, we have all been touched by COVID -- and cannot return to normal. There are too many People-Prints, ones where we have been loved and guided -- memories that we don't want to forget or erase -- lives that have impacted us.

 

May this week be filled with evidence where you have impacted family and friends, and where your life has been touched.
 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

Understanding Our Impact

To minimize the impact on Glacier Bay National Park, cruise ships and boats are required to power slowly through these glacial-silted waters.  Also, slowing down reduces the danger of hitting icebergs calved from the nearby glaciers.

Looking back, the wake of our ship makes gentle impressions that blend back the reflected scenes surrounding us.  It is a magical setting: an environment that is rooted in millennia of glacial activity, ever-changing, too majestic to absorb in one viewing.

By slowing down, the ship's noise lessens and we are left with the impact of silence and beauty.

Do you see your impact?
(Photo:  entering Glacier Bay National Park,
Larry Gardepie)

In comparison, when we were making our approach to Juneau a day earlier, we were met with jet skiers racing towards us and seaplanes buzzing over us as they escaped the water's grasp or landed gracefully ahead of us.

Both scenes are set in the grand waterways carved by glaciers and ringed by tall mountain ranges dotted with late summer glaciers still hanging from the peaks.  Creation beckons.

What impression do you make?
(Photo:  Jet Skiers, Juneau, Alaska,
Larry Gardepie)

Even in these settings I am thinking of dialogue and relationship:

• The importance of slowing down and paying attention;
• The ability to encounter and acknowledge who and what is seen; and,
• The impact or impression that our words, expressions, and actions have on others.

Our fast-paced world sometimes requires us to throttle back and pay attention.  But, are we willing?

What mark do you want to make in life?
(Photo, Ocean Sunset, Victoria, British Columbia,
Larry Gardepie)

Toward the end of our journey, we entered the waters surrounding Victoria, British Columbia.  A jet contrail crossed the evening sky, absorbing the brilliance of the sunset.  Though present to the unfolding beauty, my mind drifted back to my grandparent's backyard in the Midwest.  They enjoyed sitting outside when the hot summer day was cooling and watch the jets criss-cross their small plot of land... and each would say:  "I wonder where everyone is going?"

 

I am discovering that dialogue and relationship is about questions:

• Where am I -- or you -- going?
• What am I -- or you -- seeing along the way?
• How might we carve out time to experience the beauty and majesty of each other?
• What impact or impression blends back the reflections surrounding us?

I am just wondering:  Where are you going this week as you criss-cross my life?  Do you understand the impact you have on me?

 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

The Blessings of Anniversaries: Part 2

As I continue to reflect on a seemingly Lost Year, I have wondered and explored lessons I have learned about myself and others.  I appreciate hearing the insights you have shared with me... where you have learned to:

• Grow in faith and trust
  
• Live one day at a time 
• Anticipate a less frenetic lifestyle
• Focus on the quality of engagement in the present moment
• Become less silent when it comes to injustice and bullying
• Invest time in listening
• Work hard on taking care of my health
• Draw closer to my loved ones
• Work in my garden
• Help others grieve with all we have lost
• Welcome being humbled, more compassionate and caring
• Appreciate milestones that mark the Passage of Time
  ("Is it already time to take out the garbage?!")
  

 It seems that even in darkness, we hope for light and beauty!  We seek to learn and become.

What has brightened the dark days of this pandemic?

If we have learned so much about ourselves, others, and the relationships that are important, is this really a "Lost Year" then,?  Maybe not!

Over the last few weeks I have reviewed the photos I have taken this past year.  Though these photos do not number in the thousands as in past years when I was able to travel, the 2020 photos focused on the local beauty of my city and county, loved ones and friends, and the simple aspects of my life.  Life is special!

What beauty have you noticed this past year?

  

I also notice that I am comparing previous years and experiences... What Used To Be.  It is as if the comparison will validate what I know or have experienced:  I want to connect the dots and bring value to my current situation.

I recall a rafting trip down an Alaskan river several years ago.  We learned the importance of working with the river, using the oars to guide our direction, and working with the energy of the river.   Being in the raft gave us height above the river, allowing us to look ahead and anticipate our next move.

When have you controlled the direction of your life?

But this COVID year has thrown us into the River of Life, where we are no longer in control.  Maybe the lesson is to flow with the changes that are happening.

This thought reminded me of a younger self that liked to body surf the river: a life preserver kept me buoyed above the water.  Our guide taught us to face forward, trust in the life preserver, and position our feet forward in a half-extended position.  When approaching an obstacle, the feet would take the impact, retract, and then help us to bounce back in the direction we needed to flow.  I found this flowing so much more fun than controlling the river raft... but, being in the river, meant I could no longer see farther ahead.  It seems that we have a few choices to make in the weeks and months ahead:  control versus flow; anticipating versus accepting.

As we consider this next week, maybe we could:

• Loosen our need for control;
• Practice flowing with the present moment; and,
• Position ourselves to trust the lessons, values, and experiences that preserve who we are - compassionate and caring people who desire the best for everyone.
  

Please continue to share your thoughts and reflections on this one year anniversary:

• When have you controlled?  When have you flowed? 
• When have you trusted?  What obstacles have you bounced off and survived?

 
May this next year deepen the lessons we are learning.

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)

The Science of Ripples

I have always been curious... the why's of childhood continue to this day:

• I wonder how that works?
• I wonder what that person is experiencing?
• I wonder why people can't get along?

That's why when I saw a drop of water send ripples outward, I wondered what actually happened when that drop disturbed the calm surface.

How does your life effect others?
(Photo credit:  What Ripple Photos, Pexels)

I was pleasantly surprised when I read "Curious Kids: how do ripples form and why do they spread out across the water?" (found at The Conversation).  As we would expect, the ripple moves away from the point where an object disturbs the surface.

 

But what I didn't realize, is that "the water molecules don't move away from the rock as you might expect.  They actually move up and down.  When they move up, they drag the other molecules next to them up - then they move down, dragging the molecules next to them down."

 

At a visual level we see the ripples moving outward, but at a much more basic level the molecules are moving up or down.  Both are happening!

 

Are you aware of your impact,
large or small?
(Photo credit:  Pixabay)

I wonder if our words and actions do the same?  At the surface, we see ideas rippling outward as we express our thoughts and feelings.  But, maybe at a more basic level, the disturbance of status quo is causing relationships and emotions to move upward or downward... to improve or deteriorate.

 

I wonder what would happen if we reflected more on our words and actions... and their effect on ourselves, others, and our relationships:

• Am I aware of the impact I have on others?
• What is my intention when I disturb the surface of relationships?
  
• Do I want to build up or tear down?

 

How do you want to be remembered?
(Photo credit:  AZ Quotes)

Maybe the far reaching effects of our words and actions are both in the ripple outward and the movement upward or downward -- to improve or disengage ourselves from others.

Questions to consider as we move through these final weeks before Election Day:

• How will my decisions impact others?
• Can I see and accept the responsibility of my actions? 
  
• Am I willing to work together to improve another person's condition?

May we thoughtfully consider the ripples that course outward through our society.  May we seek to disturb the surface of the status quo in order to heal.  May the molecules of our words and actions choose to drag people upward!

 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)